Monday, January 2, 2012

girly girly nail polish......

I remember being a wee one and watching my mom polish her nails every other day before bed. Always the same deep red. I have always loved nail polishes but recently in my mid twenties I started doing it on a regular basis. I cant stand seeing my nails unpolished now. It’s a cheap fix that lifts your spirits really quick. With some of my favorites being under 5 bucks. Even at my poorest of poor moments I can splurge on a little color. So where did it come from?

I never knew. I figured at some point some girl was bored enough without TV or radio and just was like this sucks what can I do…I was kind of right. Early nail polishes go as far back as ancient Egypt and china where girls would dye their nails with plant stuff or henna.

Nail enamel was invented in the 1930’s, no not at a world’s fair that would of been awesome (got to love the 30’s so glamorous!) But in fact it was a French makeup artist Michelle Renard who was hired by two guys who wanted in on the make-up industry. Renard came up with trying to use the new paint recently developed for cars to go on nails, …genius!.... These two guys ended up starting the Revlon company, who in turn would sell the first commercial nail polish in 1932.

Then Hollywood came in and color pictures boosted sales. Girl, you mean all this time their nails were in color!?... Yes, yes they were.

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one of my favories, essie. (demure vixen)

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Before only reds and pink hues were popular it was cool to match your lipstick to your nail polish, how cute. (I am still a big fan of pinks and reds…yum!) But recently companies have developed new colors to keep up with the times, integrating blues greens and even black. Yea we all went through some awkward Goth black phase. Its also cool to note that in 80 years or so that modern nail polish has been around, the lil recipe is still pretty much the same. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

So there you have it vain Egyptians to chemical car paint changes all for the sake of beautiful nails…